Material Properties Overview

Study Notes

Material Properties

Water Absorption: Ability to absorb and retain water.
Strength: Capacity to withstand breaking, bowing, or deforming under mechanical loads.
- Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS): Maximum stress a material can withstand before fracture.
- Toughness: The energy needed to fracture a unit volume of material; high UTS and ductility result in higher toughness.
Thermal Conductivity: Rate of heat transfer through a material in steady state, readily available data for most common materials.
Thermal Diffusivity: Measures transient heat flow through a material.
Glass Transition Temperature: Range where material's mechanical behavior changes.
Thermal Shock Resistance: Ability to withstand temperature changes without damage.
Weathering Resistance: Ability to endure alternating wet and dry conditions without significant deformation or loss of strength.
Water Permeability: Capacity to allow water penetration under pressure; materials like glass, steel, and bitumen are impervious.
Frost Resistance: Ability to endure repeated freezing and thawing without significant strength decrease.

Mechanical Properties

Stress: Expresses loading as force applied to a cross-sectional area.
Strain: Response of a system to applied stress.
Elasticity: Ability to return to original size and shape after load removal.
Plasticity: Ability to remain deformed even after load removal.
Tensile Strength: Ability to deform under tensile loading without breaking.
Yield Strength: Stress required to produce a specified amount of plastic deformation.
Hardness: Resistance to abrasion, deformation, scratching, or indentation; important for wear-resistant applications.
Ductility: Ability to deform into thin wires under tensile loads.
Fatigue Strength and Endurance Limit: Resistance to repeated cyclic application of stress below the yield strength, common cause of mechanical failure.
Creep Resistance: Resistance to plastic deformation over time under constant stress below the yield strength.

Physical Properties

Specific Heat: Amount of energy required to change the temperature of a given mass.
Melting Point: Temperature at which a material transitions from solid to liquid at one atmosphere.
Thermal Expansion Coefficient: Amount of dimensional change with temperature changes.

Chemical Properties

Chemical Resistance: Ability to resist effects of chemicals like acids, salts, and alkalis.
Corrosion Resistance: Resistance to rust formation (iron oxide) in metals due to atmospheric exposure.

Description

Explore the essential properties of materials, including water absorption, strength characteristics like ultimate tensile strength, and thermal properties such as conductivity and diffusivity. Understand the importance of toughness, glass transition temperature, and resistance to weathering and thermal shock. This quiz covers the key concepts essential for material science.